Public hearings on replacing railroad bridges in Fall River, New Bedford a precursor to South Coast Rail

Friday

Apr 11, 2014 at 9:50 PM

Public hearings on the replacement of four old rail bridges — three in Fall River and one in New Bedford — will be held in both cities next week, Massachusetts Department of Transportation officials said.

Michael Holtzman Herald News Staff Reporter @MDHoltzman

FALL RIVER — Public hearings on the replacement of four old rail bridges — three in Fall River and one in New Bedford — will be held in both cities next week, Massachusetts Department of Transportation officials said.

The MassDOT’s project team’s 25-percent design hearing will be held in Fall River in the Heritage State Park Visitor Center on Wednesday, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., with plans available for public review at 6 p.m.

The state considers the bridge replacements “critical steps” to advance the $2.2 billion South Coast Rail project, which is aimed at bringing back long-awaited passenger train service to Boston, “while providing fast and tangible benefits for expanding freight service for the region,” according to Project Manager Jean Fox.

The plan is to replace of all four railroad bridges, two of which are currently used for freight service. The two in-service bridges, both in Fall River, include one over President Avenue (Route 6), which doesn’t have enough vertical clearance and width, and one over Brownell Street, which doesn’t have enough vertical clearance.

The Golf Club Road railroad bridge off North Main Street near the Fall River Country Club is in poor condition and has been out of service. It will be removed and replaced with a bridge spanning future South Coast Rail tracks.

The hearing in New Bedford, on the replacement of the three-span Wamsutta railroad bridge, used for freight travel over Route 18, Acushnet Avenue and Wamsutta Street, will be held on Thursday, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Brooklawn Park Community Center, 1997 Acushnet Ave.

Groundbreaking on all four projects is expected this fall, with construction to begin in 2015. The entire project, which will take a couple of years to complete, is estimated to cost $40 million, with New Bedford’s bridge being the costliest.

Summary details of the bridge work include:

Golf Club Road

This out-of-service bridge off North Main Street, crossing MassDOT’s right-of-way near the Fall River Country Club, will be removed and replaced. The new bridge will be designed to restore a safer, grade-separated crossing over the railroad. As proposed, the work would require reducing a portion of Golf Club Road to a single, alternating lane for approximately six months. The existing bridge is in poor condition.

President Avenue

The replacement bridge will increase vertical clearance over President Avenue and span the roadway, allowing the center pier to be removed from the travel lanes, eliminating motorists’ visual obstruction beneath the bridge crossing. The work will require a series of weekend closures of sections of President Avenue under the bridge to through-traffic.

Brownell Street

Crossing Brownell Street near Bicentennial Park, the work on the Brownell Street bridge would include complete removal and replacement of the railroad bridge superstructure, as proposed for the President Avenue bridge, in order to provide increased vertical clearance. The work would require a series of short-term closures of sections of Brownell Street under the bridge to through traffic.

Wamsutta Street

MassDOT reported that the triple-span Wamsutta railroad bridge has such inadequate clearance (12 feet), that dozens of trucks have crashed into the New Bedford structure.

Replacement would increase vertical clearance over each of the roadways using accelerated bridge construction techniques for decking and abutments.

For about six months, repairs would require reducing Route 18 to two lanes in both directions and closures and detours of Acushnet Avenue around Wamsutta Street.

Other independent work related to the South Coast Rail Project has included the installation of thousands of rail ties and spikes along 33 miles of right-of-way rail lines to Fall River and New Bedford.

The $10 project, begun in the fall, will resume this spring and be mostly complete by this summer, officials said.

Work on railroad crossings is also on tap in Freetown, Taunton and New Bedford this year.

The recommended South Coast Rail Project electric train route to South Station in Boston consists of 52.7 miles to the final stop in Fall River, 55 miles to New Bedford, the construction along the route of 10 new stations, two renovated stations and two layover facilities in Fall River and New Bedford.

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